Fallout: New Marais
by Notthegovernment
Summary: The RFI didn't kill Cole; instead it flung him into the distant future, a future filled with outlaws, mutants, lasers, and mystery. Will Cole find a way to go back and stop the apocalypse? Will he become the savior of the wastes? Will he survive the ravages of post apocalyptic New Marais? Only time will tell, and only one thing is certain: He's in for a wild ride. R
1. Beyond the end

Chapter 1: Beyond the end

I opened my eyes. This alone was a surprise, considering the fact that I should have been dead, that for all intents and purposes I did die. The RFI shut down all my vital systems in less than 3 seconds, everything that can or did keep my supercharged body running had given out, and no amount of emergency response could have fixed that. Yet here I am, lying flat on my back staring at the grey sky. I tried to get up, but it seemed an almost herculean effort. Every muscle of my being told me to stay down, to sit here and die like I should have already.

With a grunt and a groan I lifted myself onto my ass, each joint popping as it went. Panting, I stayed hunched over, lacking the energy to fully right myself. "Ugh, that's... that's plenty good for now Cole. Most corpses couldn't manage half of that so you're off to a good start." I said aloud, mostly just to see if the old pipes still functioned. It was just then that I realized that I had closed my eyes at some point on the way up. "Jeez, I need to find some juice to keep me going." I told myself, trying to motivate my exhausted form to do something. Deciding there was nothing better to do, I opened my eyes to get a look around.

I wanted to close them again real fast. Everything around me was in shambles, the buildings were crumbling wrecks, bricks contorted and deformed by encroaching vines, statues lying on their side in a dozen pieces, and bodies. Bodies littered the streets, some were brackish and near mummified, while others looked to be fresh kills. My limbs finally decided that I was well enough to move and I stood, stumbling on the uneven and cracking pavement.

I looked around, and to my horror realized I hadn't moved an inch from were I had died. This is New Marias, or was. I walked without direction, just walking to get away from the cathedral, which looked to be on the verge of toppling over. I reached the stairs, gasping and gagging as the air seemed to thicken in my throat, dust catching in my eyes. I took one step down and knew I couldn't keep up. I toppled down the stairs like a sack of potatoes; flipping, smacking and cursing the whole way down. With finality I rolled down the last step and onto the ground, coughing and moaning as the dust settled around me.

I couldn't bring myself to get up, to look at what I had done. I knew that something had went wrong, something obviously hadn't worked and the RFI, designed to destroy all conduits, the beast, and the plague had instead turned into a bomb, wiping out the city and everyone in it. My eyes watered and electricity arced off my face as I thought of all the people I had killed, of all those who had trusted me, and those who I had failed.

Then it hit me, literally. I cringed further as a steel toed boot slammed into my gut, knocking the wind out of me and causing me to cough even harder. With fury in my eyes I shot up, rage coursing through my veins like lava. A gun shoved its way between my eyes before I could even get a look at the guy, and tracing the barrel back to the person revealed it was actually a gal. Not even that; it was a girl, no older than fifteen. She dressed like a mad max wannabe, with leather pads and aluminum studs covering her torso, shoulders, and legs. "Who are you?" she asked, too forcefully for my taste.

"Who am I? What is that, some kind of Joke? I'm the man who destroyed this city. I'm the man responsible for all of this. I'm the man who failed!" I roared angrily, waving my hands up and down in frustration. How could this girl not know me? How could anyone in New Marais not know about me?

The girl almost laughed, her lips twisting into a shit gobbling grin "Oh, you're general Ackerman? Yeah, and I'm a rad-gator's niece. Seriously man, what kind of chems are you on?" she replied haughtily, pressing the gun further into my face.

I had no idea what she was saying, all I knew was that I was pissed off, tired, and sick of her crap. My hand snagged the barrel of her rifle, knocking it out of the way just as the electricity I still had cooked off the ammo. A single bullet whizzed by my ear before the gun failed catastrophically, the next round exploding in the breach and ripping the gun in half. I tossed aside the mangled barrel as the girl stared dumbfounded at the useless lump of metal that was the rifle's base. With a sick grin I yanked the girl off her feet and into the air, my smile only widening as she kicked around helplessly.

One surge, one little pulse could have ended our encounter. Then it hit me all at once. I was the good guy. With an angry growl I released my grip, dropping her to the ground while I slumped backwards against the stairs. The girl's hazel eyes burrowed into me with fear and awe, her brain trying as hard as mine to process what happened. "What... how did you do that? With my gun?" She stammered out, pointing to the piles of fresh scrap metal.

I laughed, "What, don't you know what happens when lightning mixes with gunpowder? It goes bang." I replied, arcing some energy between my hands for show.

"What? Electricity in your... OHMYGOD!" She howled, her eyes widening like she had seen a ghost (which to be fair she might have) "You're him! You're the guy from those old world stories, the saint of New Marais! You've come back, just like grand dad always said!" She screamed in excitement, her demeanor going from frightened to jubilant.

I raised my eyebrow in curiosity "What's all this talk about prophecies and grandpas? I set off the RFI, I killed this place honey. I don't think 'saint' is the word you're looking for."

She shook her head and hopped in place, frustrated at my apparent density "NO! You didn't, the RFI worked fine! You're a hero, you stopped the plague! All this happened way after you disappeared!"

My mind raced, my mouth unable to keep up "Hold up a second, what do you mean 'disappeared', that thing killed me. And how much longer exactly was it before this place began to look like the set of I am legend?"

She leant down next me, placing her hand on my shoulder "You really don't know what's happened all these years? Well, I can explain. But not here, I've been out to long as it is. Come with me, I'll explain everything back at base." She replied, standing and offering me her hand. I thought long and hard, wondering what the hell sort of story she would spin, and asking myself if I really wanted to hear it. After what seemed like a minute I huffed and took it, dragging myself onto my feet.

This in gonna be a long.

**AUTHOR'S NOTE: Why this you ask? Because I'm insane, that's why! Read and review. Or just leave a rude remark, either one works just fine. Also, this is the shortest chapter I have ever written in any of my fictions, and is the only first person piece I have ever done. Weird. Also, I wouldn't mind having a beta reader. If anyone both reads this and finds this interesting (I know, I ask too much) please PM me.**


	2. A rude welcome to the world of tomorrow

Chapter 2: A rough welcome to the world of tomorrow

"Two thousand three hundred three?" I reaffirmed skeptically, watching the girl pace around the small room in thought. "You expect me to believe I've been teleported the better part of three hundred years into the future?"

She furrowed her brow, looking at me with at least a little exasperation "I don't expect you to believe it; I just want you to realized it's the truth." She responded before continuing her pacing. I sat up on the bed, rubbing my brow line as she tried to explain it again. "Listen Cole, when the RFI went off, every conduit on earth dropped dead, just collapsed on the spot. All of them died, except for you. No one knew what happened to you, your body was nowhere to be found, and scientists couldn't find a single scrap of your DNA anywhere in the vicinity. At first they thought you may have just been vaporized, reduced to ash from the immediate surge; but none of the numbers added up. No matter how many simulations they ran or how many tests they conducted, they couldn't come close to replicating the result of your disappearance. The most popular belief for a while was that you were an angel, and that god had pulled you back up to heaven."

I had to stop her there, a sheepish grin on my face "An angel? The 'demon of EmpireCity' was an angel? Yeah, I'll believe your crazy conspiracy crap before I buy that for a second." I replied before taking a sip of the drink she gave me. It tasted funny, like coke but with a weird tingling after taste.

She chuckled as well "When science and reason fail we have a tendency to believe what we want to. A flying energy spewing savant, who stopped a titan and cured a plague in a blast of light? That sounds like an arch angel to me. Regardless, for a while people just started to believe whatever they wanted about you, then in 2025 a team of physicists and electrical engineers came up with a new hypothesis: That all the RFI absorbed a little energy from every conduit on earth while it was shorting them out, and that by pumping all you had into it you started something coined "The McGrath effect", supercharging your atomic makeup and forcing it through time itself at speeds exceeding light." she finished, taking a look at my disbelieving face.

I took another swig of the weird cola, before responding "Sorry Geordi, I'm afraid I'm not following you."

The girl sighed angrily "Listen, everything I told you is true, your arrival here just proved it. You've taken a trip to what you perceive as the future, and just like the prophecy says, you're going to save us again." She said, stomping her left foot as she glared at me.

"So, you believe I was sent here by some ridiculous techno babble, yet you believe in an ancient prophecy about me being the messiah of the wasteland? How exactly does that work?" I question her sarcastically, standing from her bed so I could better look down at her. "I'm sorry the blast screwed your brain up this bad, but you really have to see reason and realize you're talking crazy."

She frowned for a moment more before her eyes lit up "Zeke! Zeke Dunbar, he was a close friend of yours right? Fat, lazy, a lot smarter than anyone ever gave him credit for? He's the one who came up with the final formula of the McGrath effect. His notes are locked up in an old Brotherhood of steel archive, if I could get you those notes, would you believe me then?" She asked, shaking me.

Zeke was a genius, I'll give her that. If she could show me those research notes, maybe I can come to accept the fact that I was rocketed into the future, rather than the likely truth that she and everyone in this town had their brains scrambled by the blast. "Alright, if we can find those notes, I may just believe your insanity."

She raised an eyebrow at me "We? I'm sorry Cole, but you're just too valuable to risk out their. You aren't used to the rads, you have no experience with advanced weaponry, and you don't even know the layout of the city anymore. You can stay here; some of the others and I will bring the notes back to you." she finished, taking the weird drink away from me.

I laughed, stepping up to her "Hey, I'm the electric man. I think I can handle myself in a fight." I responded, flexing my biceps and arcing power through my hands. "Besides, if a lot of people have heard of this so called prophecy, they may not even try to fight us.

She thought it over for a moment, before responding "Fine, you can come along. But please, take these." She said, handing over a few packets of orange liquid. "It's rad away, you'll need it for a while if you want to survive on the surface."

Great, the whole place is radioactive; it's no wonder that soda tasted funny. We head upstairs and into a central corridor. We approach a battered wooden door marked "Chief Lazarus", but before I could enter the girl (I should probably ask for her name...) put a hand on my chest. "Only citizens of Harland and diplomats can enter the Chief's office. You're going to have to wait out here." She said, motioning for me to sit down in a battered plastic chair. I shrugged and sat down, not wanting to cause trouble on my first day here.

I sat on the chair for what felt like ten minutes, rapping my fingers on the arms of the chair, tapping my feet, and generally wasting time. Finally the girl came out, a look of dejection sewn on her face. "The chief says he can't risk you going out into the city. He doesn't know if you're ready for the rads or the creatures. He'll have you trained over the next few weeks, and when he thinks you're ready you'll be sent out on missions."

I stood up "Listen, if I'm going to believe anything you're saying I'm going to have to see Zeke's notes. Look, I'll talk to the chief; maybe if he hears it from me he'll reconsider." I said, reaching for the door.

"It's no use; no one has ever got the chief to change his mind on anything. You'll just have to trust us about- uh, Cole?"

I turn around. In the hall three guys dressed in swat armor approach, each carrying a shotgun of some description. The one in the middle, his face covered by glasses and a balaclava spoke up. "Sir? We've been informed that you're not feeling well. We've been sent to escort you back to your room." he said to me, before turning to the girl "And miss Clarisse, you were under strict orders to leave our guest alone once he was brought to his room. For breaking such orders I'm afraid you'll have to talk to the elders." He turned back to me, motioning with his shotgun. "Now then, shall we return you to your room sir?"

I needed to see with my own eyes the files Zeke had left, and these guys weren't going to use me for one second. "It's okay, I was just leaving." I sneered. Faster than they could react I raised my hand and blasted them with graviton blast, their bodies bouncing backwards and ricocheting off the wall in slow motion. I grabbed Clarisse's hand and ran for the front door, blasting it out with alpha rocket. We ran down the stairs of the police station as the alarm started to blare, frightened citizens and armed guards pouring into the streets. I kept running, sprinting down the main street and towards the fence leading out.

No gunshots were heard, but the guards were definitely closing in, their boot fall drawing closer as we neared the thick steel gate. "Cole, we're never gonna make it over that in time! It's electric, you can make it but-" In one swift move I scooped her off the ground, cradling her in my arms. I slowed only for a moment, concentrating my powers into another area, my feet. With a thunderous kick I threw myself into the air, a pillar of ice launching us over the fifteen foot gate. She screamed as we barely cleared it, power arcing off my feet as we passed. With one ungraceful THUD we landed on the other side of the gate, out in the wilderness of New Marais.

**AUTHOR'S NOTE: I will never update this quick again, just a FYI. I just had a lot of free time today and not a lot to do, which is a rarity for me. Read and Review.**


	3. New age, same Ruffians

No more chapter heads as it is redundant. The name of the chapter is above this

So much for staying out of trouble. I don't know what came over me in that moment, but I knew that whatever it was had just screwed me royally. I had no contacts, no one I knew, and the first group I met now probably hated me. I don't know what I was thinking, and from now on I'll likely be paying for it.

I guess Clarisse was having the same doubts, as the first 10 minutes of our trek was made in silence. I eventually realized I was lost, and had to ask if she even knew where we were going. "Hey, Clarisse, right? How far down this street do we have to go before turning?" I inquired, adding as much sweetness as I could muster at this point (which wasn't much.)

"Huh? Oh, just two more blocks or so. Sorry, I was just thinking..." she trailed off, waving her hand in the air.

"Thinking about what? How the tribe probably hates us now?" I ask with more spite than I intended.

"What? Oh not at all. I sneak out of that place all the time, in fact when I first met you I was on an unauthorized trip outside. Plus, your the messiah to every person from vault 48, I think the chief will forgive you quickly if you come back unharmed. I was more worried about the unharmed part." She responded, her mood lightening noticeably.

"What? C'mon, you guys keep acting like I'm made of glass. I took down more baddies than they could lock up. If anyone tries to pull anything, I'll wipe the floor with them." I responded, thumping my chest.

"I'm not saying you can't take a guy, it's just... look, did you notice how none of the guards tried to follow us out of Harland? That's because the city is currently in lock down. For nearly two weeks a band of raiders known as the 'Fire Spitters' have been attacking the city, lobbing incendiary grenades and Molotov cocktails over the fence while firing through the gates. We've been lucky so far, since the gang is too stupid to realize firebombing entirely brick buildings is almost impossible, but we're running out of water fast. Now, we've been walking in a straight line right through the Fire Spitter's territory."

I raise my eyebrow incredulously "You know, its stuff like that that I wish you would tell me, not all this vault mumbo jumbo. Why was this apparently not important enough to mention?"

"Well, they usually attack people on sight, right out of the front gate. I thought you'd figure it out soon enough... and... Well, maybe if you took care of some of them right by the gate the chief would see what you were capable of." She finished, looking away awkwardly as I stared daggers into her.

I was about to berate her when I heard the sound of footsteps behind us. I turn to see a scrawny, stubby little man. No shirt, grease stained pants, and a hockey mask that would get him laughed off the set of Jason X. "Boy oh boy, what do we have ourselves here?" He asked rhetorically with slurred vowels and constants so hard you could hear the saliva hitting the inside of his mask as he spoke. "A pair of little wanderers, lost in big ol' New Marais. Well, you won't be lost for much longer, we'll lead you right to hell!" He chuckled, raising a lead pipe in the air like a baton.

Half a dozen more mooks materialized around us, brandishing swords, clubs, and guns. I moved in front of Clarisse and puffed my chest out, deciding to try the "Legend of the wastes" approach. "Listen man, you probably don't recognize me, so I'll let this little incident slide if you walk away fast enough. I'm Cole McGrath, the lighting man." I bravely asserted, standing to my full height (which in all fairness wasn't that tall).

The lead Fire Spitter tilted his head to the right, before making a strange hacking and wheezing noise. Then he burst out laughing, holding his sides as he wheezed harder. After another thirty seconds of this he calmed down enough to insult me. "Oh, well PARDON ME Mr. Van Garth! I didn't know you was some fancy pants electro boy! Man, whatever chems you're on I want some, and I'm gonna take them off you right now!" He hollered, charging at me like a tiny wildebeest.

Well, so much for that approach. Four of the other thugs charged me, while the last two stayed back and started blasting away with pistols, making a total of five idiots and two cowards. Throwing my hand out I blasted the lead thug in the face with a sniper bolt, killing him instantly. This barely seemed to register with the other goons who continued their charge. I quickly launched a freeze missile at the nearest guy, immobilizing him while I zapped the two behind him with a couple well timed shots. I quickly turned and put up an ice shield as the bullets began to zero in on me.

When the two ran their clips dry I lobbed a batch of grenades their way before dealing with the last club carrying bandit with my bare hands. In only fifteen seconds all seven were either dead or out for the count, which unfortunately was 2 short of my record. I turned to Clarisse, who was crouched with her hands over her ears. I smugly crossed my arms and waited as it slowly dawned on her that the fight was over. She looked up at me. "Holy hell, you took out all those guys without even breaking a sweat... you really are as good as the legends say."

I chuckled "Don't praise me just yet, that lights show wasn't free. I drained the better half of my power doing that, so if we don't find an open source of electricity soon I'll be out for the count." I informed her, rubbing my forehead as sweat began to bead.

She raised her eyebrow in mild surprise (and even a hint of disappointment) "Oh, the files always talked about how you converted the energy in your body into electricity. They didn't mention anything about draining it from other electrical items."

"Huh, they must've... exaggerated the extent of my abilities over the years... or if I'm right and you've all just gone crazy from radiation and ray energy or something, you must've gotten that bit mixed up with an old comic book." I replied, scanning the area for electric items. A few cars stood out, but their signal was faint at best.

She harrumphed slightly. "You could've just said 'you're mistaken'. You don't have to be rude about it; especially since you're going to have to eat those words soon." She responded, standing up and dusting herself off. She joined in on my quest, pointing out things that might have enough of a charge. Most of it was ice cold, but after a few minutes we hit juice; an old defibrillator tucked away in one of the blown out houses still held a charge. She jumped as I absorbed the life giving power, electricity ripping through the air in a burst of sparks as it was drawn into me. Sighing in relief, I told her I was ready to get back on the road.

We walked for another ten minutes or so before we reached the north side bridge leading into gas works, though in its current state I couldn't rightly call it a bridge anymore. Massive stretches of asphalt had fallen out; leaving entire stretches without any ground save for some stray rebar. The steel supports were rusted and buckled, bobbing lightly with the current as if they had come off the foundation. Lastly, the steel cables that held the whole thing together were frayed and strained, at least, the ones that were still there were like that. The bridge could collapse on itself at any moment, dragging whoever was standing on it at the moment down with it into the murky waters below.

The girl stepped onto the Indiana Jones esque deathtrap like it was nothing turning and giggling at my rightfully stunned face. She walked backwards, smiling the whole way as I gawked. She approached one of the gapping holes, still grinning like a toddler. "Look out!" I instinctively yell as walked backwards and stopped right before the chasm.

She laughed a little, before responding "What's the matter Cole? Afraid I'm going to fall?" She asked playfully, swaying like she was going to tumble off the edge.

"This isn't funny, the whole bridge is going to come down at any second, we have to find another way around. I had no clue what sick game this girl was playing, but the moment she's out of harms way I will smack whatever sense I can back into her.

She rolled her eyes "You're really gullible Cole, you know that?" She asked, looking even fuller of herself for some unexplained reason. I couldn't respond, I was too stunned to respond. I watched dumbfounded as she stepped off the ledge.

**Cliff hanger... I'm so clever. Read, review, and critique!**


	4. A farewell to ignorance

She was floating, laughing and levitating over the hole in the concrete as I slowly approached, my eyes fixated on her feet. I was only a foot away from her when she finally stopped laughing long enough to explain "Geez Cole, for a super hero you seem really easy to freak out. Didn't I say Zeke's notes were in an old Brotherhood of Steel base?" I stared blankly at her, and she finally got the message that I wasn't getting hers "The Brotherhood of Steel is a group of scientists that try to preserve the technology of the old world while discovering technology to bring the new world back there. They discovered all sorts of crazy stuff, from power armor, to artificial sandstorms, to this, deverberating glass. The particles of this glass barely vibrate at all, making it insanely strong, give off no glare, and it gives no sound when you step on it." She said, jumping up and down to prove her point. Indeed, the only sounds made were the stretching of leather and the giggling of an annoying girl.

"Before I knock your lights out, how did you know that was even there? How were you certain that you wouldn't just drop fifty feet into radioactive sludge?" I countered, stepping up to her and onto the glass (and to my mild amusement making no noise).

"Hey, you broke my gun and scared the living hell out of me when you launched me over that fence; I think I earned a little payback. Regardless, I was born into the brotherhood. I used to cross this bridge all the time when I was little. They had outposts scattered further into the city, and wanted a way to move men and supplies from island to island without being followed, so they made this bridge look like a rickety death trap, when in actuality it is one of the sturdiest structures in the whole city." She said, looking slightly more solemn than before. I was going to ask why she was no longer part of this fancy club, but decided against it. It was probably a touchy subject, and one that would have to be re-explained about a dozen times before I finally got the gist of it through all the sci-fi jargon.

Instead we traversed the bridge in silence, stepping across the deceptive holes and the surprisingly sturdy feeling concrete. I almost felt bad stepping back onto the cracking asphalt on the other side... almost. The base was immediately to our right, built out of an old library, though a few things had changed since I last saw it. Moss and vines had overtaken much of the superstructure, burrowing into the rotting wood without issue. The yard around the library was ripped up and patchy, the yellow grass parting frequently, replaced by ditches partially filled with ashes and debris. Last, but certainly not least were the bodies.

Dozens of them littered the lawn, mangled and twisted beyond form, lying in heaps across the perimeter of the building. Blood that had browned caked the yellow grass and shapeless heaps of flesh. I turned calmly to the Clarisse "Would you care to explain this?"

She shrugged "Mostly landmines, though cannibals and varmints occasionally venture in to pick at some of the fresher additions. And before you try to suck them all dry you should probably know that half the mines are mechanical, half are electronic."

I chuckled at her nonchalance and responded "That doesn't really change my plan." I move her back a ways before positioning myself so I'm facing the river, perpendicular to the building. Finally, I throw an alpha blast. Bodies are thrown into the lake, the electrical landmines short out, and the mechanical ones go as they are shaken violently underground, causing a mass explosion I would dare to call hellacious. The whole front yard is essentially a two foot moat now save for the front steps, which seems a small price to pay all in all.

I hop into the ditch, offering my hand to Clarisse who is looking slightly wobbly (thinking about that a little harder, I probably should have told her to cover her ears or something). She accepts it and we make our way over to the front door, hoisting ourselves up and onto the porch. The door is made of some kind of reinforced steel alloy with no doorknob, there was however a fifties looking computer monitor mounted on the wall, with a keypad attached under it. "Well, do you know the password for this thing?" I ask Clarisse sheepishly.

She frowns "No... But we could try hacking it. I was never any good at it, though I could still teach you; maybe you'll have a little more luck than I do. So, when you try to open up the main screen you'll be greeted by several rows of coding. Within this coding, you'll notice words. These words will all be of the same length, and many will share some of the same le-!" She is started out of her lecture by a burst of sparks, emanating from the computer as I slammed my fist through the monitor, power surging into the inner electronics.

"What the hell is your problem Cole?! How are we supposed to get in now if-" She was cut off again as the door slowly creaked open, a smug smile creeping over my face as I stepped in. "And how did YOU know THAT would work?" She snorted, folding her arms as she followed me.

"I've had to deal with electronic locks a lot in my time, and if I've learned anything from that, it's that if I can't solve it by pumping more electricity in or taking some out, I can't solve it, period. Besides, it works a good two thirds of the time." I responded with some snark. It was only after I had turned back that I got a real good look at the inside of what was the library. The whole building had likely been gutted and refilled, with the outside acting as some sort of camouflage to its true nature. We were in a long metal hallway, with doors every ten feet on either side. Most of the doors were currently closed, but some were half open, with vines and strange patulous mounds of what looked like some sort of egg pouring into the hallway.

I became aware of a large set of crunching clicks as we made our way down the hall, the sound growing as we drew closer to the door at the end of the hall. We were about ten feet from the door at the end of the hall, the sound nearly deafening, when Clarisse tugged on my arm and pointed at one of the open doors "Rad Roaches!" She screamed over the clicking, backing up slightly as the door was forced open further. I had no time to ask what a rad roach was, but I was definitely shown one.

A cockroach, literally the length of my foot came scurrying out, approaching me in an erratic zigzag pattern. With a grimace I slammed my foot down on the bloated bug, its guts spewing out with a sickening crack. "Jesus that thing was big, was that the queen or something?" I asked, trying to scrape my foot off to the best of my ability.

"No... That was a baby." She said panicked, motioning towards the door. With a loud set of cracks another roach forced itself out of the door. This one went up to my waist and was longer than I was. I stepped back slowly and fired a stream of lightning into it, the roach surging blue and vibrating like mad. With a disgusting, slurping pop the roach blew apart before deflating, its white meat showering in all directions as the shell sank in on the remaining carcass. More roaches began to pour from the room, their exoskeletons scraping and scratching across the floor as they neared us, teeth clicking with the anticipation of fresh meat. I fired a barrage of tri-shots, roaches popping left and right, but there were too many. For every roach that feel, another one just popped out of the door. As the bigger ones neared my feet, I swung my arms back "Here we go." I said with confidence, ready to end this.

I turned and gathered energy, the air dropping in temperature as Icicles shot from the metal floors, impaling the overgrown parasites and thrusting them into the ceiling. The clicks grew faint as the whole hallway filled with ice, the creature's pasty white blood slowly dribbling across the floor in a viscous puddle. I panted with adrenaline as I marveled at the sight before me; a hundred bugs as big as a man were plastered all over the walls by pillars of ice, like something out of a cheesy gross out horror. I turned back to Clarisse, who was breathing just as deep. "You know, you could've stepped in any time there." I said coyly, wiping my hands off on my jeans.

"Hey, I'm not the one who blew up my gun and forced me to run out of Harland without any supplies. I'm not exactly the fist fighting type." She responded defensively, her cheeks reddening ever so slightly due to my jab. "This, by the way reminds me: you totally owe me a new gun!"

"Relax; I was just messing with you. Plus, with how advance these people were you can probably find all sorts of crazy guns. There's probably an Ion cannon behind one of these doors or something." I responded with a dismissive hand wave.

"An ion cannon? What the hell do I look like, a super mutant? Though, I do remember seeing a lot of cool laser rifles. If we could find the armory..." She replied nonchalantly, her tone making it impossible for me to tell if she was being sarcastic or not.

With a loud electric hiss I drew the energy from the door panel at the end of the hall before prying the door itself open. We walked down the long metal staircase and found ourselves in some sort of commons, a square twenty by twenty room with an elevator in the middle and a door on each wall. Clarisse approached the elevator, pressing the down arrow and taking a step back. A light, computerized voice came to life soon afterwards, coming from an unseen speaker "Unauthorized use of terminal. Please state Pip-boy serial number, or face retaliation. You have twenty seconds to comply."

Clarisse frowned, looking at her bare wrist as if it contained the answers "Pip-boy not received, user name CLARISSE WERNSTROM." She said to the disembodied voice, her muscles tensing as silence settled over the room.

The machine spoke again "I'm sorry, the Pip-boy number you have given is incorrect. Retaliation commencing."

I took a step backwards, toward the stairwell "What sort of retaliation are we talking about here, terminators, cyborgs, or just some automated turrets." I asked, eyes darting between the doors as another ominous set of clicks was heard (albeit this one far more metallic in tone).

"No, Mr. Gusty." She responded, taking a step back with me. The door to my right swishes open, my aim immediately fixing on the doorway. A metal bulb on some sort of hovering disk with mounted guns, saws, and pincers slowly sputtered out, barely able to keep altitude as the lights on it flickered dimly. With a pop and a clang the thing fell to the ground, arms waving ineffectually as the device coughed to a halt. I laughed as Clarisse slowly approached the downed drone without caution. "Huh, that was a lot more impressive five years ago; it's probably out of gas." She commented, tapping on the bulbous head of the device with curiosity.

While she poked and prodded the machine, I went to work on the elevator, draining the control panel before pulling the door open. The elevator was on the floor below, at least a twelve foot drop from here to the roof of it. Clarisse looked over my shoulder "We can probably just use the cable to climb down there." She suggested, taking the cable between her hands and drawing herself into the elevator shaft.

"You do that; I'll make a hole for us to get in." I said, leaping past her and falling down the shaft. I drew a light amount of energy, as much static as I could manage from such a low drop off, but it was still enough. Sparks flew as I slammed through the top of the elevator, landing flawlessly on the steel floor. After a few moments, Clarisse stepped in behind me and helped open the door.

The room's flickering made the whole thing seem bigger, the shadows allowing the walls to expand just beyond our vision. The walls themselves were lined with filing cabinets, each labeled by year in proceeding order until the unseen end of the room. "Is the future always this creepy? I mean, apart from the arsonists, mutant bugs, and the literal mounds of rotting corpses." I inquired, stepping past the cabinets labeled 1740-1750.

"What, were you under the impression that nuclear apocalypse would be all unicorns and cupcakes?" She replied, continuing to scan cabinet after cabinet. We continued in silence for another minute before reaching the proper year, about halfway down the long hall. After ten minutes of flipping through all of the assorted days, weeks, and months, she finds one file in the far back, labeled "July 16th, 2026. Dunbar Zeke. _Atomic destabilization theorem draft C." _The file was fat and hefty, with dozens of papers and thousands of red pen marks between the pages.

I could barely understand a goddamned word of the whole thing. Zeke's sloppy handwriting was only made worse by the subject matter, he slightly washed out look of all the pages, and adding over a decade onto him, but the message was still clear. Though I couldn't comprehend the math, but the words hit hard. He droned on about the supercharging of atoms acting as a conduit for the displacement of matter, and how by bouncing all the conduits energy through me and blasting it out of the device somehow converted the cells in me into energy, only destabilizing into matter after the surge stopped travelling around the world (which apparently took almost three hundred years). At the very back of the notes was a still sealed envelope, addressed to me. My fingers trembling, I tore the envelope open and read in silence.

_"Hey Cole, It's your buddy, Zeke._

_I don't know if you've gotten the other messages I've left, I put them in the previous drafts of my thesis papers, but if you haven't, I'll recap. Cole, I'm glad we were able to make amends before you left. I know what I did was shitty, and I'm glad you and I put that behind us, but right now I think you have to look forward. Things are going to hell fast, and I don't know how much longer we can hold out. Just the other day I read about some Chinese thermonuclear arms pact with Kazakhstan or something, and we've just gone to war with Mexico over some BS political cover (truth is if we can't get gas down to fifteen bucks a gallon, we'll be driving in gold powered cars to save cash) Either society's gonna collapse, Mother Nature will kick the bucket, or some new strain of the plague will rise up... to be fair I'm pretty sure one will beget the other. Without knowing exactly how many watts you pumped into the RFI we (well, I say we. Most of the other researchers gave up years ago or got moved to army research labs, so I've mostly been flying solo) can't even begin to guess were you'll end up, but wherever (or whenever) you are, you've got to promise me something: Stick to your guns Cole, be the saint that the future needs, be the light leading the... people of mankind out... of the darkness or whatever (Sorry, I'm more a man of action than words as you'll probably remember). Just do what you used to do, help people. Whelp, I better wrap this up before the building is locked up. Best of luck to you and I hope you get your hands on any future letters I leave (also, if the Amp is still in the New Marais history museum, don't be surprised if I tweaked it a little)._

_Dr. (that's right baby, read em' and weep) Zeke J. Dunbar"_

I stared blankly at the letter for a long time, time seeming to pause as I came to realize just how crazy things had gotten. I'm almost three hundred years into the godforsaken mess that is the future, and I've just been asked by long dead and only friend to do whatever I could to help. I slipped the note into my pocket and swiveled towards the door, my mind coming up with only two words.

Now what?

**AUTHOR'S NOTE: Longest chapter of this story so far and still one of the shortest chapter's I've written. Hope you all enjoyed, Read and review. Next chapter is at most 8 days away.**


	5. Ashes in the wind

"It's crazy." Cole said, shaking hi head in disbelief.

"What's crazy about the government locking its own people away in experimental public vaults to die just so the people in the private vaults could survive?" I responded, surprised with Cole's good faith towards his country, considering what he told me about empire city.

"No, it's crazy that every time I ask you a question I seem to know less about this place." He replied with some sarcasm. I rolled my eyes, annoyed at Cole's thickness. It almost seemed like all that electricity running through his body cut off the flow of electrons in his brain. I would try and explain it to him (again) when he asked a question. "So, what vault did you and the Harlanders come from? Did it have any sort of experiment going on?"

"No, I'm not from a vault; I was born on the surface, along with all the other Brotherhood of Steel members." I told him. I waited a while for him to respond, though he never did. I wanted him to ask. I needed him to ask me about the Brotherhood, and about me. Everyone in Harland always avoided the question, avoided asking if I needed help or if I wanted someone to talk to. I thought Cole help me, I think Cole IS my savior, and the savior of the wastes. Maybe I just have to take the first step...

**WHEN I SAY TRANSITION, THAT MEANS A SIGNIFIGANT CHANGE IN SCENERY OR CHARACTER HAS OCCURED.**

**TRANSITION!**

Crap. I must have walked onto some thin ice, because Clarisse has been silent for the past ten minutes. I should have known to keep my mouth shut, I shouldn't have brought up her past, and obviously she didn't want to talk about it.

Or, I could be horrible at picking up signals, as she proceeded to dump her whole life story onto my lap. She talked about how the she was born in that Brotherhood base we just ransacked, how it was on the very frontier of the Brotherhood's land. She was a messenger and diplomat for the Brotherhood at the age of ten, being used because she was less likely to be killed or captured. She ferried messages from Harland to the base and back for two years, until the Brotherhood was attacked. A huge army, fighting for a wasteland power called Helen's League, took the Brotherhood out in a week. Clarisse was in Harland at the time of the final attack, begging Chief Lazarus to send his soldiers to help. He refused, instead keeping her safe in Harland as her people were butchered. Over the years, Helen's league was forced to give up the base as new tribes rose up, but the Brotherhood never came back for the land, or for her. Lazarus had allowed her to live in Harland and seek refuge from the League bounty hunters for two years, taking her into his family like one of his own, but she never forgave him for allowing her people to die without lifting a finger to help.

"Oh... Okay." I lamely responded, unsure what to say as she looked at me expectantly.

She scoffed bitterly "Okay? Is that it?"

I scrambled for a reply "Uh, I'm sorry that happened to you?"

"Yeah, I'm sorry that happened to." She spat back, turning her head away from me. I was shit at this kind of thing. People hated me so much that even after I saved (or tried to save) their loved ones I only had about thirty seconds to stick around before they would start to pelt me with trash, bricks, and the occasional bucket of water. I never got to talk to the people I saved or the people around me, so I never really got good at the whole 'consoling' thing.

"Look, I don't know what you want me to say. I'm sorry the Chief failed you, I'm sorry Henry's League or whatever chased your people away, I'm sorry they all used you, but... What happened in the past happened. Until I learn how to travel backwards like Kessler I can't fix that sort of thing."

"Just forget it; I'm sorry I brought it up."

"No, you shouldn't be. If this is really bothering you then you should talk to someone. I'm just not the person to talk to about touchy feely stuff. If you need something or someone blown up, I'm your lighting man, but otherwise..."

"Look, Cole, I'm sorry I even brought it up, it's just... when my brothers and sisters were being chased off and killed, I used to think... I always thought that you'd show up just in the nick of time, save everyone, and bring balance to the wastes... I thought you'd show up right when I needed you... but I now know that you've shown up now that we all need you. There are a lot of dangerous forces at play, and New Marais is about to become an all out battleground, all I ask... All I want is for you to protect us. I need you to help keep us safe, while I put myself back together."

"Don't worry, whoever and whatever tries to take down this city is going home in a soup can!" I responded cheesily, slamming my hands together for dramatic effect.

She laughed a little, which was a good sign in my book. We talked a little more after that, mostly about Harland. Apparently both Harland and the Fire Spitters come from the same vault, vault 48. The vault was designed to test the adaptability of the human body and genetic transference of Immunity. For 200 years the vault dwellers ate food and drank water with trace amounts of LSD, the dosage ramping up on a weekly basis. No major incidents occurred, and when the vault opened in 2277, the dwellers were surprised to find that they were immune to intoxicating substances. Poison, drugs, even plain old booze had no effect on them. A few years out, some of the vault dwellers found something that did get them woozy: oil. A huge epidemic swept through the populace, with as many as half of them getting addicted to huffing motor oil. Eventually, Chief Lazarus, then a spry young thirty something, put his foot down, calling for the banning of oil huffing. The group split up into three separate tribes. Lazarus and around half the population settled in and around the old police station, founding Harland, about a third of the dwellers built a camp around the gas station/ car park, calling themselves the Fire Spitters, and the last group wandered off north, founding a city called Barewood, one of the more recent additions to Helen's League.

She was about to start telling me about the League and its history (and why I should destroy them) when she stopped walking. She sniffed around for a few seconds, her eyes narrowing "Hey Cole, do you smell that?"

I sniffed the air, a faint stench wafting by on a light breeze. "Yeah, it almost smells like something's... burning" My eyes widened as Clarisse sprinted off.

**TRANSITION**

For a bunch of stoners dwelling in a big gas station commune huffing gas all day the Fire Spitter had wasted no time while we were gone. In less than an hour they had mad a battering ram out of an old Chevy, smashed their way through the front gates, and were fighting the Harland defenders on near equal ground, hacking away with makeshift swords and throwing firebombs into the windows. I had to draw them out of the city; I had to get them focused on me.

Using up the last of my overcharge I called down the lightning, a massive bolt crashing from the heavens onto me, sending a thunderous echo through the dusty streets and catching every ear for miles. All heads turn to me. I had there attention, now all I needed was a little show of force so they don't think that lighting was coincidence. I saunter into Harland, playfully lift the Chevy over my head with kinetic pulse, and step back outside the gates. "Listen, assholes. You have two options here. You can either drop your toys and surrender to the fine boys of Harland, or come out here and play with me. The choice is yours." I taunt, throwing the Chevy down the block with ease.

For a moment, everything is silent. Then all hell breaks loose. The Fire Spitters pour out of the main gate, covering the distance in no time. I lash out, kicking one into the air as he got close before blasting him as he came down. One ran past me, trying to hit me in the back. With a grunt I twist and throw an ice ball at his gut, freezing him in place before throwing his frozen body with a shockwave. The mass of them flank me, running to... running and... Running... "Are you serious?" I yell as they sprint away from me, dashing down the street screaming. They were never running TOWARDS me, they were running PAST me, I had scared the guys off.

I cursed aloud, angry that I had been too flashy. I turned around to see Clarisse, who was already in the midst of being chewed out by an older looking man. The man, grey and in his late fifties, wore blood soaked and battle worn Swat armor from head to toe (though to my dismay the wear and tear all looked brand new). I stood there, motionless for nearly half a minute as the old man shook his finger and berated her, waving his nearly twenty pound shotgun around with one hand like it was a toy. I took one step forward and he was on me. His burning eyes shot to me in an instant, nearly detecting my movement before I made it. "AND YOU!" He roared, shoving past Clarisse and pointing an accusatory finger at me.

**TRANSITION**

For an old man holing himself up in his little castle all day, hiding behind Harland's big walls and keeping all outsides as far away as possible, Lazarus was a bold man. He stepped right up to Cole, the savior of the wastes and the man who just showed up Zeus, and proceeded to tear him a new one. He berated Cole for being irresponsible, putting himself in danger, being selfish, and for not being there when the Fire Spitters attacked. He tore off his helmet and threw it to the ground in boiling rage as he cursed at Cole for letting the Fire Spitters go when he could have finished them off. Cole, the big tough electric man, almost looked fearful of Lazarus. I was sobbing softly, using my hands to wipe away the tears as quickly as I could. I had never seen Lazarus thing angry, I had never seen him raise his voice, I had never even seen him take a single piece of that old armor off.

The people of Harland weren't taking it any better. Between the burning buildings, dead kin, missing hero, and the Chief openly bursting with rage, most of the citizens busied themselves with putting out the fires, ignoring the damage they had done for now. Then Lazarus made his ultimatum, straightening himself out and lifting his helmet back onto his head. "Cole McGrath, you have proved yourself unready for the duty of chosen one. You are banned from entering Harland until you have completed a series of challenges. The first of which: Reacquire your amp, which is on display at the ColeMcGrathMuseum on 32nd and Alder, by any means necessary. The building is held by the Vengeful Khans, a tribe of semi-nomadic raiders hailing from California. Should you succeed, come back with the amp and present it at the front gates. Should you fail, stay in whatever ditch they toss your lifeless corpse into and don't hold up King Minos, go straight to hell."

He turned to me, leaving Cole standing their blankly staring. I feel my breath hitch as my hands are pulled behind me and restrained in a pair of zip cuffs. "As for you, Clarisse, you are hereby under house arrest. You will be held in your tenement, and shall receive trial before the elders once all of the damage has been repaired." He said while stepping past as the guards dragged me backwards. I was too stunned to scream.

**AUTHOR'S NOTE: I am sincerely sorry that this chapter is both two weeks overdue and horrid. I was very busy, and every time my schedule cleared I lost this document. I had to rewrite this chapter FIVE TIMES, from SCRATCH for various reasons, including a crashed computer, someone closing my document without saving, and a stolen flash drive. So after the fourth lost chapter I said FUCK IT! And wrote this whole chapter in one two hour sitting. I am sorry it came out so bad. Trust me, my original draft was much better and more developed, and my next chapter will be much better and more thought out. From now on I'll be giving more vague update info, but I will post a status bar at the top of my bio as I write the chapters, giving you some indication on the next chapter's progress (or lack thereof). Next chapter comes out some time between now and the end of physical existence. Also, Review, even if the review is negative, any feedback will motivate me to keep improving and keep writing.**


	6. Frontier of the Khans

**AUTHOR'S NOTE: WOW. Ten followers. That is not a sarcastic wow, that is a very serious thank you to all of you. When all of my other stories combined had 5 followers, this really means a lot to me. Thank you all very much for supporting this hack! As an aside, t****his opening is a little disturbing. Viewer discretion is advised... though will not be heeded. Also, I would like to take this time to say that I own neither the Infamous game franchise, nor do I own the Fallout franchise. I can't remember if I've said that yet, so I would like to reiterate that/ state it for the first time as the case may be.**

I wasn't actually scared of Lazarus per se. Sure, the old man had some balls, and his roaring voice could make a lion applaud, but I knew I could squash him. What I was afraid of was losing the new world. I needed friends and allies, I needed to bring these people together under one flag, and losing Harland this early did in fact frighten me. I couldn't lose the people who made first contact with a caveman, right?

Even in his rage Lazarus wasn't stupid. With how different the streets were I was almost certain to get lost, and Lazarus was willing to lend me a basic map of the area. I turned down one of the side streets, trying to avoid the main roads where I could. Unfortunately, it seems that trouble is never willing to let me go. With a shriek something pounced on me, claws digging into my shirt and teeth into my neck. I was able to shake the thing off before it did too much harm, drawing a few light drops of blood and little else. Flipping around, I came face to face with a rabid mutt, snarling and righting its self to launch a counter attack.

I was putting it out of its misery. The skin was peeling off its front legs, its paws were blackened with ash, and its teeth were rotting right out of its gums. I don't like killing dogs, it's something I intentionally avoided, but I knew in the back of my mind that this thing was too far gone to stop. It would keep throwing itself at me until one of us was broken, and I wasn't about to catch rabies on day one of my wasteland excursion. One quick zap to the skull and the mutt slumped onto the wall, smoking slowly and oozing thick maroon puss, probably blood at one point. I turned around to leave, not wanting to smell the burning mold and hair, when suddenly "AUAUAGHHHH!"

The high pitched battle cry of some loon blasted right into my face, causing me to stumble backwards in surprise. He swung at me with a bat, his movements heavy and slow. I easily evaded the attack, but before I could throw one of my own I was struck hard in the back by someone else. I coughed as the wind was knocked out of me, the cold metal of whatever hit my knocking me to my knees. The guy in front of me struck downwards, howling as he did. I flopped to the side and scrambled to my feet, firing a bolt behind me as I got to my feet again. The bolt hit whoever it was, and they gave out a high pitched yell, signaling that it was a female.

The man before me to another shot, but I ducked under the wide arcing shot. The bat connected with the wall, a loud clang signaling it was my time to end this. I grabbed the bat, forcing electricity through it and into the guy, before yanking it out of his grip and slamming him in the chin with his own weapon. He flew backwards, slamming onto the hood of a rusted out car. I turned to the female, who was screaming in horror at the man lying dead behind me. I threw a rocket right into her chest, slamming her into the brick wall and causing her to cough up a load of blood.

She was dead, she was probably dead right as she hit the bricks. It was a coincidence that as she fell to the cold concrete ground her arm wrapped around the dog, just a nerve reflex that caused her lips to move as her head lightly sank onto the dog's forehead. I stared at the scene a few more moments, the woman lying against the dog, the dog's rusted collar, the simple gold ring on the woman's finger. I got back on the main road.

**TRANSITION**

Two red dots danced around my heart, slowly bouncing with the light vibrations of the unseen snipers controlling them. I searched around, but found only the two men manning the machine gun nests aimed right at me and the Kahn with the megaphone between them. I grunted angrily at myself, cursing at my own stupidity. I just waltzed onto the street and right into the goddamn firing line of their fort. I heard a few faint clicks before the man with the megaphone spoke, stuttering nervously and frequently despite his armed friends and the fact that I was a good two blocks away "H-h-halt, wh-w-who are y-you, a-and why have y-you entered... uh... territory b-be-belonging to us... err, the Vengeful Khans?"

"You see that museum behind you, the one with all of your men in it? Yeah, I'm the guy on display in there." I yelled, pointing behind him at the sign that bore my name.

The Khan rubbed his fur shoulder pads awkwardly, groaning lightly in thought (I presume, I was too far away to hear him without the megaphone) while he fidgeted. He eventually turned to one of the machine gunners, motioning for them to give him something. After some dispute the gunner handed megaphone man a pair of binoculars. He looked me up and down for a few seconds before getting back on the megaphone. "Y-you do look a little like Cole, b-but he died sixty years... BEFORE the Gr-Great War. You can't b-be him unless y-you a-are three hundred."

"It's a VERY long and unbelievable story, trust me. If you don't think I'm really Cole, could I put on a little lights show to prove it?"

Megaphone Kahn paused, then responded "A... Alright, I'll t-tell the snipers to h-ho-hold the-their fire, but if you try anything funny we'll... We'll... uh... just don't ma-make me make the-them shoot you!" He said lamely, shaking his head with regret as he put the megaphone down. He turned back towards the building and made a series of hand gestures for the unseen snipers. The red dots slowly inched their way down my body, almost as if the dots were disappointed in having to get off of me. The dots rested at my knees, each dot taking the opposite leg in case I tried to run. I aimed my left hand at a nearby car and let loose a series of shots, switching from alpha, pincer, magnum, and stream bolts. I then drained the energy back, feeling slightly lightheaded from the energy waste and perhaps some light radiation sickness.

Megaphone guy fell on his ass in awe, scrambling with his megaphone before responding excitedly "HOLY- OH MY- Jesus man! You really are the savior! I'm so sorry for keeping you waiting Mr. McGrath! What can I do for you sir?!"

"Well, if your boys could stop pointing those big guns at me that would be a good start." I said with snark. Megaphone guy jumped up and turned to the museum, making a different set of gestures to the men. The dots vanished, before the machine gunners lowered their weapons. I approached; sauntering up to the sandbag barricades nonchalantly as I lightly asked for my gear "Hey, I actually came here for a reason. A little birdie told me that a couple things that belong to me are actually in that museum. In particular I'm looking for a big two pronged metal thing, about yay long?" I gestured, not exactly sure how to describe such a weird device.

"Oh yeah, I think I know the one, be right back Mr. Savior sir!" He hollered over his shoulder, dashing towards the museum. I was about to hop the sandbags and follow him when the two gunners pulled pistols on me. I threw my hands up, looking between them disbelievingly. The megaphone guy turned around when he heard the clicks. "Oh, yeah, shit, sorry Mr. McGrath, I forgot to tell you. Policy here states that people can only enter the base with the express consent of the base's commander... speaking of, I should probably contact her before I start giving away Khan property..."

I rolled my eyes, stepping back from the base. "Thanks for the warning."

"Sorry about that." He sprinted up the stairs, taking them two at a time "Ms. Khan! Ms. Khan! The prophecy is true!" I tried to strike up some small talk with the Khans behind the gun emplacement but to no avail. The guards stared at me with distrusting eyes, while we awaited the head chief. I heard the megaphone yelling from the top of the stairs, waving his arms and pointing right at me, and next to him... holy shit.

"See Ms. Khan? I told you, it's Cole!" He giddily yelped, hopping down the stairs and pointing. Ms. Khan as he called her strode up to me with long, measured strides, covering the distance before megaphone man. I looked up at her, watching her watch me with her dark brown eyes as we stood in silence. Ms. Khan was a huge woman, at least 6'3" and built like a tank. Her face looked like a chewed up old potato, with scratches, cuts, and healed bullet wounds on just about every square inch of her jaw and cheeks. Her hair was shaved from the right side of her head and down to her neck on the left side, partially obscuring her eye. My gaze was pulled away from her face though, and down to her pelted outfit. A fur and leather vest covered her muscled chest and abdomen, while a pair of denim short shorts on the verge of ripping apart from her bulky thighs covered her pelvis and presumably her rear. I was impressed at the imposing woman hulking before me; she really looked like queen of the warriors.

She huffed and talked to megaphone guy, never breaking eye contact with me. "He does look a lot like him Raj, I'll give you that." She thought aloud with a voice three octaves two high for her body. "But the fact of the matter is that it isn't that distinctive of a face to begin with. I've seen my fair share of scarred white baldies."

"Hey, I'm right here lady!" I said more defensively than I cared for. "Besides, could any other scarred baldy do this?" I charged up my hands, sending a stream between my arms.

Ms. Khan watched unimpressed "Car battery and latex gloves, though finding a battery with that much jump left in it must've been hard."

Tough crowd. I turned from her and threw a grenade, the fizzling ball latching onto a nearby wall before exploding, knocking out a five foot section of the decayed building. "Shock grenade, probably stolen from the old Brotherhood base, though to be fair I've never seen a sticky variant." She remarked with a raised eyebrow.

I was amazed by this woman's ability to shrug off god like power. Searching around for something else I could try to convince her that I was a supposedly dead time travelling superhero with the ability to redirect electricity… Okay, maybe it's a little tough to swallow, but I have proof!

I began to climb the tenement a few buildings back, easily maneuvering my way up the decrepit structure due to the new handholds a few hundred years of decay had made. I reached a balcony on the tenth floor before turning to face her. "Now, watch this, sweet cheeks!" I hollered over my shoulder, turning around to jump.

"No. Stop. You have so much to live for..." She stated flatly, rolling her eyes and drumming her fingers on her hips impatiently while she waited for me to "leap to my death". I gave a short wave before throwing myself off the ledge. I could feel the static surge through my fingertips and into the air around me almost immediately, the surge growing as I fell to the ground. I was about two dozen feet away from Ms. Khan and her guards, yet I could see the look of astonishment in all of there faces as I hit the concrete. The charge burst outward, kicking up dust and throwing lose pavement around for about ten feet, while the car I landed near was knocked backwards and flipped onto its hood. I stood up as the dust settled, watching the Khans as they tried to gather themselves. "Well... surviving a fall like that, while making a lightning explosion... Uh..." She turned to the nervous guy she called Raj "Raj, get the conduit his gear, and make it quick!"

Raj gave a quick salute before disappearing into the museum, Ms. Khan watching him go with a look of mild bemusement "That kid, he always talked about the crazy stuff he saw while out on greeting duty. I usually just assumed he was full of shit, but I guess even a broken clock is right twice a day." She then turned to me, motioning me towards the ramparts "C'mon savior, don't be shy! I won't bite... unless you ask nicely!" She chirped, beaming at me as I approached.

I smirked "Hey, with the welcome I got from your goons a minute ago you should consider yourself lucky that I'm even still here!"

"Ha! The museum's logs didn't say anything about you being so funny Cole! My snipers would've picked you off before you even realized you were running away!"

"Is that a threat?"

"Is that a challenge?"

She laughed a little and smiled (showing off an impressive row of sharp, mangled teeth), before inquiring "So, how've you been enjoying the future so far? Has it been as interesting as your wild adventures back in the past?"

"Well it... wait, don't you even want to know how I got to the future?"

"Eh, not really. We've been stationed in the Cole McGrath museum for a while now, and have read up plenty on your exploits and disappearance. We've all read about the energy sinkhole anomaly that temporarily ripped you out of the space-time continuum. I and a lot of others just thought you got disintegrated by that amount of power, but since you're here I think it's safe to guess how you got here." I shrugged; she definitely had been keeping up on her reading. "Now, how have you been taking the-"

"Ms. Khan! I have the stuff for Mr. McGrath!" Raj shouted right into her ear as he popped, hands full with the amp and...

"Uh, I didn't ask for that." I stated hesitantly, pointing to the second object in his grip. He was carrying with him a very familiar metal alloy gauntlet, the one worn by Kessler to be exact.

"I know you didn't but this thing has had this note on it since we got here Mr. McGrath." He handed me a battered and faded piece of lined paper with a simple set of instruction scrawled hastily on it in blue pen on it. **_If you are not Cole McGrath, please give this to him. If you are, please put this on. _**I placed the amp in its holster before taking the gauntlet, the light weight of it surprising me. I looked at the thing hesitantly, inspecting it top to bottom.

This wasn't Kessler's, or at least it wasn't the original. The part that attached to the upper arm had been removed, the inner fingers and palm was a strange, stretchy substance that somehow felt like a grated metal, and more noticeably there was a display screen at on the wrist of the gauntlet, a small knob, a scroll wheel, and some buttons surrounded the screen. I pressed some of the buttons and tried out the knob, but the screen remained black.

I seriously didn't want to put this thing on, just the though of the man who wore it, just the thought of _me _wearing this thing freaked me out a bit. I then remembered what this thing did for Kessler. Even at his old age he was able to hold his own against the much younger version of himself, me. If Zeke hadn't shown up when he did he might've won. This thing gave him powers, powers that even after defeating the beast I didn't have, or hadn't unlocked.

I took a deep breath and shoved my right hand into the glove, not wanting to have time to change my mind. When all of my fingers were in their respective holes I felt a metal ring clamp down around my forearm, sealing my hand in the device. I yelped as I felt small spike-like things pop from the rubberized insides, digging slightly into my arm (presumably) without drawing blood. I was about to rip this thing off when the lights came on and the screen lit up, a smiling cartoon man with a raised thumb winked at me while a bar at the bottom slowly filled.

I watched with worry as the bar filled up, the blue monochrome screen flickering from time to time as it did. After about thirty seconds the bar and cartoon disappeared, replaced by a wall of text. I was about to begin reading when I felt something.

Zeke and I have debated this for a long time, and though both of us agree that it hurts like a son-of-a-bitch, we've never come to a consensus as to how it feels. I always feel the heat first, followed by the force and the pain. He says he feels the shockwave of it, then the heat, and lastly the pain. All I know is, a 45 ACP round just ripped through my left shoulder, slamming me against the ramparts and causing me to shout in alarm and pain. Before I knew it, bullets were flying everywhere, rounds being fired both from within and outside the base. I groaned as blood slowly tricked down my back, the wound shutting painfully as my enhanced metabolism went to work.

Ms. Khan swore and grabbed me by the arms, pulling me over the sandbags and into cover while the machine guns rattled away. "Goddamn mercenaries!" She cursed, drawing two pistols and blind firing over her shoulder with one of them. "These guys are paid once in a while to check if their boss's can take us over yet. What these idiots don't know is that attacking Khan strong points has an eighty percent mortality rate for the attacker!'

"Who hires them?" I asked loudly over the gunfire.

"Lots of people with lots of caps. Dawson Mining, State of Samson, Paston... all of them have a beef with us, and they all have enough caps to make even the smartest of raiders go stupid." She responded, pulling her arm back as the bullets started to fly over her at greater frequency. I popped up and shot a few bolts blindly before being forced back down. "Can you see any of them?"

"No, I think they're all hiding around the far buildings."

She thought for a moment "Alright mail boy, now's your chance to show us what good that lighting of yours is in combat. My boys and I will try and draw their fire. Meanwhile, if you can scale that building their, hop those roofs, and come around behind them, we can wipe these poor bastards out!" I nodded at her plan, knowing that I wouldn't be much under such s concentrated barrage. I was about to make a dash for the building when Ms. Khan grabbed my left wrist "WAIT! Let me at least give the signal to my Khans to start spraying! Also, take this, in case your electricity runs out." She took her second pistol and shoved into my right hand before I could react.

I opened my eyes again after a moment to see that the pistol had not exploded at all. I stared at it, the weight of it on my glove feeling alien after all these years without ever holding a firearm that didn't blow up. I stared at the beefy revolver, then to the gauntlet again, realizing that the glove must have some subduing effect on my powers. "Are you ready?!" Ms. Khan roared, shaking me out of my stupor. I nodded without thinking about it.

"THREE, TWO, ONE, SUPPRESSING FIRE!" She screamed, jumping to her feet and spraying into the street, along with her machine gunners, snipers, and grunts. I ran to the building as the deafening hail of bullets blew down the street. I clamored up the wall easily and ran across the roof, leaping from roof to roof quickly so the Khans wouldn't have all of the attention on them any more. I reached the edge of the line of buildings and looked down at the raiders, four of them huddled behind the corner and popping out to fire at the Khan's fort. I aimed carefully and squeezed the trigger.

After spewing lighting from my fingertips for the better part of two years, calling what I felt a rush wouldn't be quite right. It wasn't as powerful of a jolt as my lighting, it didn't have the same kind of surge, but it was definitely different. The muzzle flashed and the pistol bucked up as the round was discharged into the top of the raider's head. The other three looked around in confusion as their buddy toppled backwards. I fired twice more before they looked up, returning fire with a vengeance.

I retreated from the ledge and lobbed a shock grenade down with my left hand, listening as the bandits scattered in fear before the boom. I peeked back over and saw that two had got away, but had run right into the Khan's line of fire and had been mowed down. The last one was four feet away, clutching his gut in pain as he squirmed from the residual shock. I cursed as a series of shots flew by me from my left and nearly decapitating me. I dropped to my knees and approached the ledge, the tops of their heads barely visible from my perspective. I raised the revolver and fired, the bullet smacking the brick beside him. I fired twice more, but was unable to hit him from this range (much to my own frustration, being only thirty feet away)

I raised my left hand and tried to find an angle, but was unable to do so without exposing myself. I looked at my right hand... I tossed the empty pistol into my left hand and raised my right palm up, deciding to let off a pincer bolt. To my own surprise a bolt fired without problem, and it looked to be at least twice as potent as my old shots. The thug shook as the electricity coursed through him, dropping him to his knees.

The bandits, who were now caught between me and the Khan's, promptly fled into the back alleys, leaving behind dozens of their own dead. I smiled as I inspected both the gun and my new toy, happy that at least something was going my way today. It was only then that I noticed the screen was still displaying the message that I hadn't had time to read. Shoving the revolver into my belt loop, I began scrolling through the text.

**AUTHOR'S NOTE: I realize I made the beginning a little messed up (or at least I tried to. I may have totally failed to convey any emotion), however there actually was a reason behind it. I wanted to demonstrate that for this fic, we are playing by Fallout morality rules. In Infamous, every decision is usually black and white, and while I do like that system, I feel it wouldn't really be doable with some of the factions I have yet to reveal. We are playing by Fallout rules. Every side, regardless of how good or bad they appear to be on the surface, will have complexity to them or weight to their actions. No side or individual (again, I hope) will be truly one way or the other, and even one group which I may have conveyed as one or the other so far will have counterpoints to their values/ actions. Those guys who jumped Cole in the beginning of this chapter weren't just assholes looking to pick a fight. They saw a healthy, clean, well fed guy walking around with a map. He was a newcomer who looked like he had something good on him, and they were on the verge of death. So, keep in mind that very little will be as it seems... also, I had to rush the ending gunfight a bit, so if it's not good, sorry. Next chapter is fairly short, so it should be out soon. I will update status bar. P.S If I called Ms. Khan by her actual name at any point, please tell me by PM. It is going to be revealed later as a little joke, but I feel like I may have accidentally slipped it in here. Any guesses as to what it is? LEAVE IT AND ANYTHING ELSE IN THE COMMENTS!**


	7. New tech, old talk

_"Hello Cole, my name is (or from your point of view 'was') Dr. Hale Stockman, and I am both a physicist and a diehard follower of yours. I've read the work of my former colleague Dr. Dunbar and I have heard the faithful gospel that says you shall return to right the wrongs that befall this earth. If my newest calculations are in order, and if this device has remained relatively undamaged over the years, you should be reading this sometime between the years of our lord 2280 and 2310. Cole, without being there I cannot fathom the nuclear horrors that await you or that you have already seen, however I have set upon myself the task of arming you with the best equipment I could afford to give with the governmental repurposing of resources._

_ First and foremost I am going to address the glove you are currently wearing. It is a device that you may think you are familiar with, but I have taken the liberty of modifying it to better suit your needs. The first change you may want to hear about is the electrical redirection system that I've added. As I'm sure you're aware, the electricity you have within you could not be redirected to the point in which you could grip specific items. However, with the charging system and conduit reroute relay I've installed, you should be able to grip just about anything in that gauntlet without overcharging it and still cast your lightning without issues. As well, some of the electricity is stored over time, meaning that the first few shots you take every hour will be approximately 2.376 times as powerful!_

_ Through a series of nodes the glove actually reads your vital signs and current energy level in a way that a non-scientific type like you can understand. When activated, the screen can display your general level of health, the level of injury you have sustained, your current radiation level, your heart rate, how much you are burdened by weight, and so much more! It is a Personal Information Processor (or PIP for short), and seeing as how I've made 500 minor or major changes to the original design, I'll be referring to it as 'PIP-boy 500'._

_ It's not just a fancy body scanner though; the device is capable of many less advanced, yet equally useful tasks. It has many functions akin to those of a PDA from your time. The device allows you to leave notes and messages for your own future viewing, map your current location and direction of movement using an internal polarized magnetic oscillator (or a 'compass', in more earthly terms), download computer files via cable, and it even allows you to listen to localized radio stations should you find one._

_ I cannot tell a lie to the prophet, and despite my best efforts the device still has flaws. First and foremost I should inform you that without a skilled team of engineers, surgeons, technicians, and electrical engineers, you will not be able to remove the gauntlet. To keep its systems calibrated and accurate the processor needs to collect data from you at all times, and the device is actually powered by your body's natural current, thus removing it would cause the device to be unusable. Second, I regret the fact that I was never able to craft a left handed model due to resource and time constraints. Finally, because of the future's unpredictable nature, the map I have provided you is blank. It has the geographic outline of the landmasses; however you'll have to set locations of significance on it manually._

_ Next, I will talk about your melee amplification weapon (or the 'amp' as I believe you called it). I've added onto it an energy converter that allows you to conduct an electrical field around the weapon that creates a thermal sinkhole. In short, the weapon can now be used to create Ice shards instead of electrical arcs if you flip the switch on the handle._

_ Cole, I have full faith that God has placed you where you can do the most good, and I wholeheartedly believe that with your skill and the divine's plan we as a species shall prevail through whatever torments the devil and his tricks may force on us. I only hope that the weapon I have armed you with shall make your duty slightly less challenging. You are in my prayers, as well as the prayers of all mankind._

_Dr. Hale Stockman, October 7th, 2052"_

I really would have liked it if I was told that this thing would be permanently stuck to me BEFORE it was permanently stuck to me. Well, Dr. Stockman for all of his weird religious mumbo jumbo at least seemed to know what he was talking about, so this thing should really come in handy. I heard the voice of Ms. Khan calling for me from street level. Running over to the side of the building, I watched as the towering woman kicked aside some empty shells and shattered bullets.

"I must admit, the way you handled those mercenaries was pretty impressive."

"I'm just doing my job Ms. Khan."

She rolled her eyes at me "Please, don't call me Ms. Khan. The only people who call me that are Raj and the idiots hired to kill me. Until I take the throne from my dad just call me Mileena." She responded

"Uh, alright Mileena... Well, I better get back to Harland; they're expecting me to bring this stuff back as quickly as possible."

Mileena frowned "Oh, I thought you were going to help us out a little before you left..."

"Trust me, the moment I win back Lazarus's trust I'll come back here and try and fix whatever problem you need me to solve. Trust me." I reassured her, hoping down onto the curb beside her.

"Alright, I'll hold you to that, though try to hurry. These goons will never take us down, but some of the other big players might if we keep getting pressured like this."

"Trust me; I'll be fast as lightning."

Mileena gave a condescending groan as I strode off into the city, ready to show Harland both the amp and my new toy. I was only about four blocks from the Khans when I got a little curious. I held up the PIP-boy and scrolled through some of the menus, the controls intuitive albeit clunky. Eventually I found the radio, static blaring from a small speaker above the screen. I twisted the knob a little, the static whirring higher and lower as I did so. I heard a sharp sound, a human voice making an 'a' as I scrolled past the 86's. Going back I slowly honed in on the channel, until I heard the voice come through with moderate clarity over channel 86.9

"... song was of course _Harlem Blues. _Turning to more serious news, various reports filtering in from the Fire Spitters, wanderers, and even closed off little Harland claim that Cole McGrath, a name I'm sure most of you are familiar with, has returned from wherever he had left to. Now, for the younger viewers, or some of the old dogs who have forgotten, Cole is supposedly a savior, come to rid the world of its troubles, and free us from our own misgivings.

Does that sound familiar? That's right, this Cole is playing by the same Bull shit rules that those jack booted thugs over in the AoP are using. Don't be fooled by the myths, this Cole McGrath, if he even IS real, is going to forcibly bend you over and mold you into his own damn empire, with all of you acting like his personal playthings! So, unless you want more war, violence, and bloodshed through our streets, you'll avoid this demon like the plague, which he may just be carrying!

Now in foreign affairs, a border dispute between the DMA and the AoP has left fifteen dead and an unknown number wounded. After a b-"

I swore out loud furiously, spit flying off my lips as I mashed the off button on the radio. I had barely started helping out and a new voice of survival had popped up, this one a full time radio host. To top it off, someone in Harland called up this pest and told on me. I was about to scream when a voice caught my ear.

I spun around, gloved had wrapping around the hilt of the new amp. A small man, dressed in a grey hooded jacket and faded jeans, wearing cracked racing goggles, and carrying a satchel stamped with a strange red symbol approached, unfazed at my hostility. "What do you want?" I ask venomously, fearing that the guy was here to try and stop "the demon".

The man held his grey gloved hands up in a mock show of surrender, still approaching as he spoke "Cole McGrath, I presume?"

"Who's asking?"

"Well, I am the one asking you, but really, I'm just messenger. The real asker is Director Joseph. He requests your presence in City 11A."

"Might I ask who this mysterious director is?"

"Director Joseph is the head of far eastern affairs for the Dawson Mining Alliance Mr. McGrath."

**AUTHOR'S NOTE: Like I said, very short chapter. I just didn't want to lump this in with next chapter, as the next one is VERY long, as we are introduced to the first of three major (vying for control of all New Marais, for one reason or another) factions, the Dawson Mining Alliance.**


End file.
